{"id":114027,"date":"2021-05-04T22:09:39","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T04:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=114027"},"modified":"2021-05-04T15:03:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T22:03:00","slug":"the-mwl-should-separate-the-wheat-from-the-chaff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/05\/04\/the-mwl-should-separate-the-wheat-from-the-chaff\/","title":{"rendered":"The MWL should separate the wheat from the chaff"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Government\nMP Dr. Wijedasa Rajapaksa, a former Justice Minister and an ex-president of\nthe  Bar Association of Sri Lanka, stated over a month ago that the\nMuslim  World League (owes) families of those who had perished or\nsuffered injuries in the Easter Sunday terror attacks USD 5 mn.\u201d (\u2018Wijedasa\ntakes it up with Saudi-based outfit\u2019 by Shamindra Ferdinando, The Island, March\n25, 2021). This is money that the MWL general secretary Dr. Sheikh Muhammad\nAbdul Kareem Al-Issa was said to have promised on behalf of his organization\ntowards the relief of the surviving victims of those attacks at a so-called\nNational Peace Conference held at Nelum Pokuna under the patronage of the then\nPresident Maithripala Sirisena on June 30, 2019, a little over two months after\nthe Easter Sunday attacks carried out by eight Islamist suicide bombers in the\nname of their religion. As claimed by MP Rajapaksa, the Sheikh made the promise\nin the presence of  the then incumbent Sirisena, and former presidents\nChandrika Bandaranaike and Mahinda Rajapaksa, among other dignitaries. The same\nthree past presidents dutifully attended the second National Peace Conference\non March 5, this year. MP Rajapaksa told The Island that he brought up the\nissue with the MWL head. This was through a letter of his dated March 22, 2021,\nwhere he urged the latter to fulfill what he had promised without further\ndelay. MP Rajapaksa stressed: Let us hope those who organised the Nelum Pokuna\nevent, too, will take up this matter with the Muslim World League and finalise\nthe transfer of funds before the second anniversary of 2019 Easter Sunday\ncarnage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfailure of the MWL had been mentioned even at the PCoI, according to the MP,\nwho further said that he had raised the matter with the offices of the previous\nand present presidents. Dr P.B. Jayasundara (secretary to the current\nincumbent) had confirmed that the funds in question had not been received. A\nletter that the then Western Province Governor A.J.M. Muzammil had received\nfrom Muhammad Al-Issa, to which MP Rajapaksa refers, seems to have a hint about\nthe possible reason for the unexplained delay in the payment of the promised\nfinancial assistance: it is probably being withheld pending Sri Lanka\nproviding information relating to the spate of suicide attacks\u201d. Whether the\nMP\u2019s importunity in the given context is shared by the government is in doubt.\nWhat should be of greater concern for the government is the fact that, by\ncontriving to get themselves identified as constituting the  whole Muslim\ncommunity of the country, the handful of Islamist extremists who are widely\nbelieved to have provided tacit or explicit support for the suicide bombers are\nalso foisting themselves on its (the MWL\u2019s) powerful patronage. While being\ngrateful to this organization for offering welcome help at a moment of national\ndistress, Sri Lankan leaders must take care not to allow these Islamist\nextremists tainted with suspected association with the terrorists who caused\nthat suffering to jeopardise its relations with the traditionally friendly\nMuslim nations through  subterfuge. At the same time, it behoves our\nleaders to establish the genuineness of the MWL\u2019s intentions and to have a\ncorrect understanding of the rationale of its involvement in the post-attack\ncontext, before accepting its\ncharity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Islamist Jihadists and fanatical Christian proselytizers are\nminorities that should not for a moment be identified with the traditional Sri\nLankan Muslim and Christian communities who have always lived in harmony with\nthe Sinhala Buddhists and Tamil Hindus for centuries. Sri Lanka must take\nspecial care to prevent the problematic Islamist and Christian extremist sects\nfrom pretending to the outside world that they respectively represent the\ncountry\u2019s Muslim and Christian mainstreams in order to subvert its foreign\nrelations as certain powerful Muslim politicos who have somehow contrived to\ningratiate themselves with the powers that be seem to be doing at the moment.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto the Wikipedia, the Muslim World League is a (Saudi) government-funded NGO,\nwhich  was founded in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 1962. The name suggests that\nit is about the pan-Islamic Muslim world, not the world in general, which\nMuslims share with people of other non-Muslim faiths. It came into existence\nfor the purpose of serving Islam and Muslims. Its founding charter, according\nto the information currently given in the Wikipedia, is as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUOTE\nWe\nthe members of the Muslim World League, representing it religiously, hereby\nundertake before God, Almighty to: Discharge our obligation towards God, by\nconveying and proclaiming His Message all over the world. We also reaffirm our\nbelief that there shall be no peace in the world without the application of the\nprinciples of Islam. Invite all communities to vie with one another for the\ncommon good and happiness of mankind, establish social justice and a better\nhuman society. Call upon God to bear witness that we do not intend to\nundermine, dominate or practice hegemony over anyone else. Hence, in order to\nfurther these goals, we intend to: Unite the ranks of the Muslims, and remove\nall divisive forces from the midst of the Muslim communities around the world.\nRemove obstacles in the way of establishing the Muslim world union. Support all\nadvocates of charitable deeds. Utilize our spiritual as well as material and\nmoral potentialities in furthering the aims of this charter. Unify efforts in\norder to achieve these purposes in a positive and practical way. Reject all the\npretenses of ancient as well as contemporary Jahiliyah (attitudes of the\npre-Islamic era). Always reaffirm the fact that Islam has no place for either\nregionalism or racism.\u201d END OF QUOTE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization has thus an extensive global agenda with\ninevitable, wide ranging, religious, educational, cultural, legal, and\npolitical implications, particularly for non-Muslim countries like Sri Lanka,\ngiven that the organization is committed to foster the fiercely conservative\nbrand of Islam, Wahhabism (or Salafism), which is Saudi Arabia\u2019s state\nreligion.  It will, among other things, include laying down plans designed\nto revive the role of the Mosque in the fields of guidance, education, preaching\nand provision of social services, conducting a comprehensive survey of the\nworld\u2019s Mosques and publishing the information gathered in book form and in the\nshape of periodical bulletins, selecting and posting groups of well qualified\npreachers on guidance missions throughout the Mosques of the world, \nformation of board of directors to supervise the affairs of each and every\nMosque at the national as well as the regional levels, studying the ideas and\npatterns of behavior that contravene the teachings of Islam, and helping in\nrehabilitating and training Imams and khateebs for posting to the various\nMuslim areas to lead Muslims in prayers, deliver sermons and guidance lessons\n(a khateeb is a person who delivers a sermon during Friday prayers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Wikipedia further tells us, all Saudi Arabian citizens are\nlegally required to be Muslims. They don\u2019t have the right to freedom of\nreligion (as the term is understood in secular democratic countries); nor do\nthe expatriate workers employed in the Saudi kingdom. The official and dominant\nform of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia is Wahhabism (also called Salafism)\nwhich emerged in the 18th century. Its adherents believe that its teachings\npurify the practice of Islam of innovations or practices that deviate from the\nseventh century teachings of Muhammad and his companions\u201d. Saudi Arabia has\nlong been accused of being the principal exporter of Islamist extremism\n(WikiLeaks cables).  …..Saudi Arabia arguably remains the most prolific\nsponsor of international Islamist\nterrorism<\/a>, allegedly supporting groups as disparate as the Afghanistan Taliban<\/a>, Al Qaeda<\/a>, Lashkar-e-Taiba<\/a> (LeT) and\nthe Al-Nusra Front<\/a>\u2026 Saudi\nArabia is said to be the world’s largest source of funds and promoter of Salafist\njihadism<\/a>\u2026.. which\nforms the ideological basis of terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda<\/a>, Taliban<\/a>, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant<\/a> and\nothers\u201d (\u2018State-sponsored terrorism\u2019\/Wikipedia\/Page last edited 14 April 2021).\nSaudi Arabia denies these allegations, but the Wikipedia entry mentions the\nprevalent argument that by its very nature Wahhabism\/Salafism encourages\nintolerance and promotes terrorism\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MWL, while propagating the religion of Islam, encourages\nDawah (lit. issuing summons to\/euphemistically, inviting or calling non-Muslims\nto join, i.e., preaching to them) and conversion of non-Muslims; funds\nconstruction of mosques and provides financial relief for Muslims affected by\nnatural disasters; finances distribution of copies of the Quran and political\ntracts on Muslim minority groups. Though the organization claims that they\nreject all acts of violence and promote dialogue with the people of other\ncultures, within their understanding of Sharia\u201d, they are not free from\ncontroversy on that point, having been the subject of several ongoing counter\nterrorism investigations in the US related to Hamas, al Qaeda and other\nterrorist groups\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, since 2016, the Muslim World League has been claiming\nto be dedicated to combating extremist ideology, and to confronting hatred,\ndisunity and violence closely associated with extremism.  The US State\nDepartment, in its 2019 Country Reports on Terrorism, stated that the Muslim\nWorld League\u2019s Secretary General, Muhammad Abdul Kareem Al-Issa  pressed\na message of interfaith dialogue, religious tolerance, and peaceful coexistence\nwith global religious authorities, including Muslim imams outside the Arab\nworld.\u201d  The same document said that he conducted extensive outreach to\nprominent U.S. Jewish and Christian leaders\u201d. No doubt, the MWL is on the same\npious mission in Sri Lanka. We may be hopeful that the MWL leader will\nsimilarly reach out to the non-Muslim 90% of the Sri Lankan population\ncomprising Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But whether the assurances given to the powerful US will hold\nfor a small non-Muslim country like ours is still a moot point. The  MWL\u2019s\nsponsor Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy without a legislature (Wikipedia),\nlet alone an elected legislature; its state religion Sunni Islam or\nWahhabism,  is growing to be the majority Buddhist Sri Lanka\u2019s scourge,\nunless checked in time with the help of the predominantly Sufi mainstream\nMuslim minority, who have peacefully coexisted with the majority Buddhist and\nother non-Muslim minorities for centuries. The MWL\u2019s post-April 21, 2019\ninterest or involvement in Sri Lanka should be judged according to its\nuncompromising commitment to serving Islam and Muslims\u201d everywhere as\nexplained in the foregoing account. The rich and powerful Saudi-funded,\nSaudi-basedl Wahhabism-inspired NGO outfit\u2019s patronage of Sri Lanka\u2019s\napproximately 10% Muslim minority is bound to have obviously important\nrepercussions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One could argue that the so-called National Conference on Peace,\nHarmony and Coexistence that introduced the MWL to the country just two months\nafter the April 21 Islamist terror bombings, in effect, both \u2018nationalised\u2019 and\n\u2018internationalised\u2019 Sri lanka\u2019s still nascent Islamic fundamentalist problem.\nUnless sorted out early, this is not going to do any good to the peaceful and\nharmonious coexistence which all Sri Lankans of different ethnicities and\ncultures have been enjoying to date mainly thanks to the influence of the\ncountry\u2019s extremely accommodating, tolerant Buddhist cultural foundation,\nsomething that is today universally accepted and appreciated by all peaceful\nnon-Buddhist minorities. Through its friendly outreach to the non-Muslim\nmajority, the MWL can  hope to further strengthen the already existing\ninterfaith harmony and peaceful coexistence in our island nation. It is\nheartening that the Saudis now reject extremist ideology and terrorism.\nHowever, unfortunately, this cannot be asserted without reservations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto  The Island <\/em>news report mentioned above, secretary to former\npresident Sirisena, Samira de Silva, told the paper that the MWL was delaying\nthe payment because the National Peace Conference event organizers had still\nnot responded to the following questions: (1) the number of dead and wounded\n(2) their faith (religion) (3) list of the dead and the wounded (4) collateral\ndamage to public property (5) number of widows and orphans (6) other relevant\ninformation and (7) account number of the President\u2019s or  Prime Minister\u2019s\ncharitable fund\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nmy mind, these are not charitable questions that one would expect a genuinely\nhumanitarian organization to ask. Why should they demand specific information\nabout the victims\u2019 religion and their particular identities? The term \u2018collateral\ndamage\u2019 refers to unintended, but unavoidable, accidentally caused, damage to\ncivilians\u2019 lives and their property during a military conflict. The \nserious implications of the use of the phrase in the jihadist terror context\nare not difficult for those who are sufficiently informed about Islam to\nunderstand. Also, the outfit\u2019s slighting call for the account number of a\nso-called President\u2019s or Prime Minister\u2019s charitable fund is indicative of an\nunwarranted superciliousness towards the people of an independent sovereign\nnation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why\nall the dillydallying  and cheeseparing for the insultingly derisory sum\nof 5 mn US Dollars by a rich Saudi government funded NGO? For Saudi Arabia with\nits relatively small population of 34.2 million (2019 estimate) and its GDP at\n1.9 trillion US Dollars and per capita income at 56,817 US Dollars (Wikipedia),\nit is peanuts. Of course, the 5 mn Dollar sum (roughly the equivalent of 1\nbillion currently debased SL Rupees) is, hopefully, not intended to sound like\na big amount to Sri Lankans, for that would be an affront to their general\nknowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nIsland report said: According to a missive received from Dr. Jayasundera, the\nMuslim World League was to directly get in touch with the Prime Minister\u2019s\nOffice to finalise the matter\u201d. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa seems to have,\nthrough his secretary, wisely assigned the slimy \u2018matter\u2019 to the PM to dispose\nof. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Important note<\/em>: The explicit and implicit criticisms contained in this article\nare NOT directed at the government or the people of a particular country. No\ndisrespect is intended towards them. Only facts are stated as given in the\nsources indicated. The write up is about how the writer as a free patriotic Sri\nLankan citizen views the Saudi-based MWL\u2019s reported offer of help to the\nfamilies of the April 21, 2019 Islamist terror attack victims. The writer does\nnot mean to criticise the Islamic religion, the global Islamic outfit\u2019s\nreligious ideology or its mission. There is no indictment of the NGO. His only\nconcern is with how to save his motherland from the looming threat of extremist\nIslamist ideology and violence that the MWL itself has already rejected, as its\nleader has assured to the Americans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer firmly\nbelieves that it would be impossible to overcome violent Islamist religious\nextremism taking root in Sri Lanka,  without the sincere support of the\ncountry\u2019s still unradicalized mainstream minority Muslim community. It is also\nhis conviction that, certain duplicitous politicians, both Muslim and\nnon-Muslim, who do not have a clear idea about the scope and nature of the\nproblem that they are required to deal with or pretend not to, form the\ngreatest obstacle to finding a solution. They are the real target of criticism\nhere, though they are hardly mentioned. Readers are free to accept or reject\nthe writer\u2019s opinions as their own knowledge and judgement help them decide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala Government MP Dr. Wijedasa Rajapaksa, a former Justice Minister and an ex-president of the  Bar Association of Sri Lanka, stated over a month ago that the Muslim  World League (owes) families of those who had perished or suffered injuries in the Easter Sunday terror attacks USD 5 mn.\u201d (\u2018Wijedasa takes it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rohana-r-wasala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114027\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}